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And as I type this, it’s 9:30 on Thursday evening. I notice a pattern in that I’m posting something around this time if at all, and I’m not sure if this is the best time of day to be noticed. That’s why I’ve scheduled the post, and you’re reading it sometime after 10am on Friday.

Honestly I haven’t been doing much of anything to share. A lot of playing Dark Souls and wasting time on Reddit. Not the best use of my time, but there it is. My writing slipped, and that’s something I want to get back on track because it’s one thing that’s sure to help with my bouts of depression.

But there’s some good news! Back in March I had my flash story Swamp Gas accepted by a Australia-based magazine called Antipodean SF. It’s sitting pretty in their 212th issue right now, available for free. They also have an accompanying podcast, and Swamp Gas was featured on April 23. Have a listen!

The more well-known an author gets, the more likely they’ll receive some interesting comments or requests by email or on their blog or website. Some may be lucky to get totally sane comments, others may get totally crazy requests. This is what we’ve received.

Question 69 – As a writer or blogger, what was the most unusual request or comment you’ve received?

I don’t think I’ve gotten either a comment or a specific request that was really unusual. (Unless you count spam comments, which can be hilarious when they aren’t just unreadable.) Or a specific request at all.

I got a comment from someone who didn’t like Oreos. That was really unusual.

Twice in recent times, news stories surfaced that relate to one of my works in progress.

I was working on a short story set on Mars when NASA discovered liquid water. That specific site became the setting for my story “Martian Soil,” which is about a Martian terraforming attempt going awry. It’s in the submissions process now.

Now I’m working on a short story about a robot named SAM that serves as an assistant for an elderly couple. It has an unpleasant encounter with some neighborhood boys that leaves it severely damaged.

Enter Atlas. It’s a robot created by Boston Dynamics that has better balance than previous models and the ability to pick itself up after falling down. The video shows it being pushed around and knocked over by humans. I immediately thought of SAM and what it goes through during my story.

They say art tends to imitate life, but not often do we expect life to imitate our art. When has this happened to you?

Authors appear to be very intelligent, don’t they? Well, a lot of the knowledge they’ve gained for writing is through research. And there are some bizarre topics that they’ve researched. I’m sure you’d be surprised, amused, or horrified if you went through an author’s Google search history. But don’t worry, it’s all for the book!

Question 68 – What are some of the most unusual things you’ve researched for your writing?

Whether or not a dual star system can have a planet orbiting one of the stars. There seems to be one line of thinking that it can be done if the planet’s orbit is at a 90 degree angle to the plane on which the two stars orbit each other. I also saw an article that said it was not possible, and tried to explain why with mathematical equations. I gave up trying to understand it, and…

Many of you will remember I sold Swamp Gas, a short science fiction piece, to Voluted Tales in 2014. Next month it will be featured in Antipodean SF, which specializes in speculative flash fiction. They also have an accompanying podcast, so perhaps in the slightly farther future you can hear Stelle’s adventure narrated in an Australian accent.

You know the kind of person who says they don’t like your favourite genre, even though they’ve never read it before? The kind of person who says, “Oh, that’s stupid. Why would anyone read it?” I’m sure you’ve met a few. I know I have. If you are one of those people, these answers are for you!

Question 65 – What would you say to someone to convince them to read the genre you write in?

Did authors always want to grow up to be authors? Some did, of course. But most probably didn’t think of writing as a profession that they wanted to do. There’s a wide variety of jobs, and most probably wanted to do something entirely different.

Question 64 – When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I always wanted to be a veterinarian, probably because I read All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot at a young age. But come high school I took physics instead of biology because I couldn’t stand the thought of dissecting a frog. By that time I was much more interested in human psychology anyway. Though I never went to university to study what makes people do the things they do, psychology continues to fascinate me.